John Heltman

John Heltman has covered the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department for American Banker since 2014. Prior to joining American Banker, he covered derivatives markets and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for Argus Media, and prior to that covered the Environmental Protection Agency for Inside Washington Publishers. He is a 2005 graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Equifax observed an increasingly well-worn ritual of scandal-ridden firms by jettisoning CEO Richard Smith: apologize, promise to do better in the future, and sacrifice your top executive in the hopes it will ward off action by Congress and regulators.

In oral arguments held before the Supreme Court Tuesday, liberal justices appeared to struggle with plaintiffs' argument that state bans on credit card surcharges violate retailers' free speech, while the bench's conservatives appeared concerned about how states apply those bans.